When was the last time you showed up as your whole self — messy bun, bold dreams, coffee cup in hand — and said, “This is me”?
In this episode of The Communication Queen Podcast, host Kimberly Spencer sits down with Marianne Hickman, professional speaker, storytelling coach, and founder of The Elegant Office. Together, they unravel the truth that every Queen in business needs to hear: authenticity isn’t optional — it’s your greatest business strategy.
From her journey as a single mom of five on food stamps to becoming a powerhouse on global stages, Marianne reveals how owning your story — every raw, unfiltered, audacious bit of it — builds unshakable trust. Kimberly and Marianne go deep on the “cost of conformity,” how to stop shrinking to fit, and why storytelling that comes from the scars (not the wounds) transforms audiences and careers alike.
If you’ve ever felt like your story wasn’t “professional” enough to share, this conversation will shake you awake. Because when you stop performing and start being real, your people don’t just listen — they lean in.
🎧 Tune in and discover how your authenticity can amplify your message, magnetize the right stages, and create transformation every time you speak.
😎Get booked on the TOP 5% of podcasts that can build your brand awareness and your bottom line. Book your $100K Profit from Guest Podcasting Planning Call here: https://www.communicationqueens.com/get-booked-on-the-top-podcasts
📖 Get a copy of Kimberly Spencer’s best-selling book “Make Every Podcast Want You” and boost your brand awareness & scale your business with the power of STORYTELLING and the strategy of PODCAST GUESTING: https://www.communicationqueens.com/book
🦄Join us for our next Podcast Party! Meet other 6 & 7 figure podcast guests, get booked on podcast interviews, and find your soulmate sponsors! https://www.communicationqueens.com/prosperity-purpose-podcasting-party
Want an epic guest for your podcast? Explore our Communication Queen celebrities, and we will support you in getting them booked for your next podcast interview: https://www.communicationqueens.com/our-clients
Enjoy, sovereigns!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or your other favorite podcast listening platform. You can also watch the episode on Youtube.
What You’ll Learn in this Episode:
- Authenticity is your superpower.
Marianne shares her journey from being a single mom on food stamps to a thriving speaker and entrepreneur. Her success began when she stopped caring about others’ opinions and started showing up as her true self. That radical ownership of her story turned vulnerability into power - Authentic storytelling builds trust.
The more honest and human you are, the more your audience connects. Marianne’s viral “coffee post” story demonstrates that imperfection is what resonates most—authentic moments create deeper relationships than polished personas - Rejection is redirection.
Marianne uses her “bottle of water” metaphor to teach that your value doesn’t change based on where you are—only your environment does. If you’re not being valued, you’re simply in the wrong room - Tell stories from the scar, not the wound.
Both Kimberly and Marianne stress that the most powerful stories are told from a place of healing and ownership, not blame. When you’ve moved from “this happened to me” to “this happened
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.